


The Crescent's Puzzle

by Ceceloco



Series: The Crescent's Puzzle [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Canon Autistic Character, Implied Canibalism, Magic, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-29
Updated: 2016-12-07
Packaged: 2018-07-10 23:57:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 19,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7013854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ceceloco/pseuds/Ceceloco
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a small desert town a story unfolds. One of conquest, power and secrecy, just out of sight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you think this chapter's short, don't worry! They'll get longer as I continue to post

Let me tell you a story, a tale which chronicles a particular creature residing in a small town situated in the sandy desert. Let's begin.

The desert's dunes seemed vast, like they stretched on forever. A small winged creature flew over it, not a bird, no, but something else. It saw hills towering to the size of mountains, waves arcing over each other, all of this, made of the same substance. White sand. Plain and outstretching to impossible distances and spaces. Sand so drained and lacking of color that it reflects the sun like a blank sheet of paper or a wing of a seagull.

The barren, sandy terrain stretched on for what seemed like miles, then, the further south one ventured, they would begin to see small patches of life, grass, ferns, the occasional flower, here and there, going further yet, as the temperature only decreased until the point of a hot breath turning to fog in front of the nose of the organism breathing, the green flora seemed to explode into a small section of a pine forest, one that looked as if it were purposefully placed in the middle of the landscape.

Just west of that forest, as the flying creature saw, was a small village, constructed of brick houses and very densely populated by all different kinds of species. This minuscule civilization consisted of no more than thirty isolated buildings in the expanse of sand.

The village, as well as a few feet around it, was searing hot, which was and odd occurrence, as well as a seemingly impossible one at that, the creature that hovered above the trees thought, especially considering that it was situated not too far west from a freezing cold forest.

But this is the town of Fortuity.

And anything is possible within the Crescent's Cradle.

  
This strange, bizarre, black furred and brown winged creature flew down to the sweltering village that felt as if it were to burst into burning red flames at any moment, if it weren't for the lack of flammable materials within the village's area. The curious creature used it's one talon to perch itself, surprisingly steadily, upon the raised ledge of a tall, four story building, which, peculiarly, was one of the tallest buildings in the village.

It twisted it's long neck and pointed it's angular snout towards a large palace, the exterior walls painted a deep blue, utilizing gold high lights around the borders of windows and doors.

Three large violet and gold colored banners hung proudly from the edge of the roof, the one on the left adorned with a golden 'H' and the right had a large, cursive 'Z'. The flag hanging from the center of the building hung with a large predatory bird with it's wings outstretched etched in red onto the dark shade of purple that the flag was near completely made of.

Any of the residents or citizens of the Cradle would call it the Cradle, not the village of Fortuity, if one would by chance call that village Fortuity, the 'people' native to the village would know that that person was an traveler, a tourist, or an outsider. It didn't matter which of the three types of people stated the person was, because the villagers would viciously stone any of them, regardless of any reason given to the civilians for the person's being there.

 


	2. Chapter 2

The 'animal' that was perched on the building's roof swished it's tail, that resembles that of a mouse or rat, along the roof, thoroughly coating it in sand which had found itself up there from the last sand storm that rushed through town no more than a month ago.

The creature's single large and amber eye, bearing a cat like pupil, sharp and pointed at the tips, that was placed on it's matted gray furred chest, dart around, inspecting and surveying the scenery surrounding it. Eyeing the not-so-tall sand or brown colored buildings, the 'people' at the village's supposed marketplace, who were wheeling and dealing various currencies for other items, most of which were usually some sort of odd looking food, or produce, or even livestock, like cattle, sheep and the occasional psychotropic serpent.

All was normal, but only for a short while. The 'animal' which was perched nicely on the building's ledge spotted something out of the ordinary from the usual occurrences of the Cradle's streets.

It saw a massive wave of guards, armed to the teeth in various brown and black leather, as well as metals, that looked close to suffocating in the heat. The horde, which appeared incredibly close to countless in number, flowed out of the two cathedral-like doors of the sizable palace.

This creature, strange and complex, yet somehow irrelevant and dull, did not care, nor give any attention to the sudden increase of the already high number of guards marching out of the palace and crowding the previously bare streets with the clattering and clanging of shields and armor.

But someone else did.

The creature, the definitely not-bird creature blinked, or, winked, depending on how one may perceive the motion of the eye closing, two eyelids came from the left and right side of it's belly, met each other over the eyeball, then pulled back, leaving a thick coat of semi-translucent ooze. The eye trained itself on a street dweller, who seemed to be evading the forces of the law, that were, the marching army of guards.

The towering armed soldiers were throwing open the village's building's doors, most of them, those that actually had doors got the long metal rectangles nearly flung from their hinges as they were forcefully pushed, kicked and forced open. The beings covered head to toe in armor were shouting into the houses, asking for somebody who's name was whispered, compared to the previous tone and volume of voice.

The 'person' that the armed beings were searching and hunting for seemed to be the young man, who was neither short, nor tall. The one who covered his sepia skin and onyx hair with a cloak the color of sand. The one with the hood over his eyes and tall, near straight, horns on his head. The man whose brown scorpion tail's poisonous barb left a trail in the sand on which he walked on. The man who held a wooden cane of some sort that curved sharply at the top.

The 'person' that was hiding behind a building. The one that dashed and darted, running out into the desert's sand dunes and ducked behind a mountain of the white-brown grains, the one pulling the cloak over his body, and tucking his tail underneath as well.

The winged creature followed him out into the desert, curious of just what he was doing, crouching in the sand like he was. Then, as the sandy winds passed over him, he slowly became invisible. Just in time for the guards, who all came storming over the dunes, in search for this mystery person.

The large and clunky sounding metal boots trod over the hills, over the static and still waves and swells of sand as the creature flew above, easily combating the winds that were threatening to push it back. It rapidly flapped it's impressively sized wings and watched as the steel and copper clad guards marched around and over the dunes, almost like soldier ants carrying food back to their nest.

The squad even walked through the area where the supposed outlaw once was, proving that he had, in fact, disappeared. Not one of the army men knew where he had gone, partially because they did not have a clear sighting of him even before he ducked behind the sand pile.

Once the hidden person heard the scuffing and kicking of shoes, the dragging of weapons as well as staves in the sand march back towards the village of Fortuity in some what of an almost rhythmic pace he pushed the cloak's fabric off of him, letting it pool around his body as he shot up to a kneeling position, inhaling and exhaling deeply, his eyes shut tightly as he let his lungs fill up with oxygen, a great change from being trapped in a cloak made from thick burlap-like fabric.

After a few quick breaths, and a couple slow ones, his orange eyes widened, his pupils shrank and he exhaled shakily and screwed his eyes shut as he fell back, unconscious against the dunes, the gusts of wind blowing sand into his hair.


	3. Chapter 3

Time passed. So much time passed that the once noon high golden bright sun had begun to paint the blue sky with varying tones and shades of pink, orange and even purple as it touched to sandy desert horizon, not a single wisp of the white clouds stretched out over the radiant orb as it turned orange.

Though all that time passed, and though the young scorpion lad was unconscious and laying in the sand swells, once the sun had set completely he was gone. Maybe his cloak had blown over him and he turned invisible? No, that's not how it worked. He had left, but not on his own feet, and not by himself. He had a companion. An odd creature. Not a bird, no, but it did bear wings. 

Black boots laced up and gray pants tucked in to them. A loose and some what cut up white shirt blew back in the gusts as the creature stood in front of a tall tower constructed out of stone bricks, his ginger-red hair, mixed with a stone-gray and the color of a cunning fox's fur layed just over his single amber eye, single, as the other had been gouged out.

It was just on the very border of the snowy forest. The tall and bulky creature held the young man in his arms, the tops of which were lined with odd, scaly dark blue ridges. He harshly pulled his arms to his sides and dropped the man on the sandy floor as he opened to heavy wooden and metal door to the tower. He grabbed the scorpion boy by the hood of his cloak and dragged him over and out of the sandy ground and inside the fortress.

 

The young man furrowed his brow and squeezed his already closed eyes shut even tighter. Eventually his eyelids fluttered open, showing his dark brown eyes that were empty and hollow from being unconscious, and they seemed more like black holes than eyes at all. 

He was awoken by the feeling of his body, which, while unconscious, was as heavy as lead, being dragged across the familiar carpet of his familiar's home. The giant wizard's tower just on the edge of the forest that just about all of the inhabitants of the densely forested area knew of, but nobody actually knew about.

The tall stone structure with an incredibly odd set of five torches at the roof of it, each of which was lit with a flame of a different color. The five small lights' colors consisted of blue, which was rather normal, at the top of the pentagon-like shape. To the right of it was a flame of green, which was even more normal, as most of the torches in the Cradle were lit with either green or white flames, the latter of which was to the left of the blue flaming torch. Finally, the two torches at the bottom, from left to right, were brown and purple.

The seventeen year old, the one that was laying on the carpet of the living room in the first floor of the tower, blinked a few times then focused his eyes on his familiar, who greeted,

"Good morning, young master Arihkii."

 

"Can I ask why you were being hunted?"  
The young man, supposedly named 'Ahrikii' groaned rather audibly with a deep and rumbling tone, gripping his head with his left hand, the one that wasn't wrapped in cloth bandages that looked like they were already soaked with blood. He winced and screwed his eyes shut before gazing up at his familiar, who was holding out a hand, offering to help him up, an offer which Ahkirii gladly accepted. He took hold of the older man's hand and pulled his body's weight off of the carpeted floor, dusting the imaginary dust on his trousers off.

"Ugh, they saw me with my weapon." He huffed. "I wasn't hurting anybody, but they saw it at my waist. You know how strict they are in the Cradle." He was fed up with the incredibly tight security in the central city of the desert. As soon as they saw somebody with any type of weapon they thought that the person wanted blood.

"I know you were not the one at fault here, then." Chukro commented.

"Also, Chukro, please quit it with the titles? I'm not formal here, you shouldn't have to be." He chuckled with his request.

"Hmm, very well. I guess I could just call you by your name only." Chukro responded as Ahrikii pulled his cloak off of his shoulders and threw it carelessly onto a coat rack, surprisingly, it actually landed and secured itself on one of the wooden hooks. The familar rolled his eyes at the carefree motion, "So, will you be staying in the tower for the night?" 

Ahrikii sighed as some kind of non-verbal answer to Chukro's question, which the familiar knew he had a habit of doing, but then, surprisingly, Ahrikii decided to answer with actual words. He knitted his brow and stared out of a stained glass window to gaze at the pitch black night sky, but mostly saw his own reflection of his face, bruises and cuts forming almost a pattern along his forehead and cheeks and down his jawline.

"No, wait. It's night? Well, fine. I'll stick around in here but once day comes I'm going straight back to the Dunes." 

 

Chukro didn't usually show much expression on his stoic face, but anybody who gave him even a glimpse at that moment would be able to tell that he was irritated and fed up with Ahrikii. 

"Must you really retreat to that village? Mingle about with the street rats?" He groaned out, questioning Ahrikii about if he actually wishes to return to the White Dunes, an incredibly small village that consisted of maybe twenty well built bungalows and approximately ten shacks.

"Yeah, don't worry, I'll get a break soon." He reassured his familiar, who gave some sort of scoff-snort mix, showing that he didn't exactly approve of his master's plans. "What was that reaction for? I'm not kidding, that place has made the poor become rich! I'll find a job there!" Ahrikii objected to the small noise Chukro had made.

"Yeah, sure, I bet that's what everyone else that's stuck there thought originally as well." Chukro began to loosen his uptight attitude a bit. He ran ahand through his coarse hair, which was practically full of sand from when he was outside, and took off his blue and yellow striped tie.

He noticed Ahrikii taking his cloak back off of the rack and thowing it over his own shoulders with a scoff and a devious, daunting grin, he spoke,

"You know what? I'll leave NOW."


	4. Chapter 4

"It's night time and you will get hurt, trust me." Chukro informed Ahrikii of the possibility of injury that the boy knew much too well already.

"I won't, the Berak scorpions and psychotronic snakes don't scare me. Don't even say that they can actually hurt me." He spoke as if he were invincible to the treacherous monsters that lurked out on the desert terrain that stretched between the Cradle, the forest, and White Dunes.

And oh, yes, did Ahrikii know of the monsters. He knew of the twenty four foot long constrictors that slithered and left a perfectly straight line in the sand as they propelled their thick and bumpy body across the sand with it's spiked, club-like tail. He knew of the species of a black feathered predatory bird the size of a hippopotamus. He especially knew of the wretched purple and gray sand worms that would devour some one with one of their seven to nine fanged mouths if one dared to step foot in the territory of the beast.

Though he had quite a firm grasp on the barbaric creatures of the desert, especially those that strayed along the path from the forest or the Cradle to the Dunes, Ahrikii dreaded the day that he would come across a C.D.M.

Now, 'C.D.M' was a Corpse Disposal Monster. A vile creature created by a congregation of scientists, biologists and inventors several years ago. The group had temporarily taken up residence in the Cradle, much to the townspeople's displeasure and objection to the group 'bringing their stupid science-y nonsense' into their city, but the crew didn't mind the civilians' harsh words and continued to set up their lab there anyways.

 

The people who usually were spotted wearing lab coats, which had been dirtied with, well, dirt, observed the way of life for the citizens of Fortuity for several weeks.

One bright and radiant Sunday morning, the people of the village had awoken to the sound of two scorpions hissing as they battled and threw their ten foot long green bodies at each other. A sound that was familiar and welcoming to the villagers, as long as they did not approach the skirmishing creatures.

What wasn't familiar was a large building, at least five or so stories tall, which seemed like with was constructed of windows, for the most part. This was the lab of the scientists, which had mysteriously appeared overnight.

Yes, the man who ran the produce stall remembered just a week ago when little orphan Vinissa couldn't contain her curiosity. Yes, they all miss her, but no body could find out where she had been taken,until it was already too late to save her life from the neuro-toxins injected into by the scorpions.

Of course, like any outsider to the town that had successfully convinced the residents not to kill them, the scientists were shocked and frankly, panicked when they heard of the young girl's disappearance, and even more frightened once they learned that the townsfolk didn't do too much about it.

   
Then they started asking the people where are all the people who survived after being abducted by wildlife, the people replied and explained that there were no survivors, there never were. Then the researchers inquired as to find out where the bodies were put once dead, it turns out, the townsfolk just left the bodies where ever they fell, saying that 'it's too dangerous to bury them, and burning them would attract more beasts' but they never explained their reasoning for either of those excuses.

After exploring just outside of Fortuity, the scientists discovered many dead bodies, simply laying on the ground, surprisingly not entirely covered by sand. It appeared that the monsters had no interest in actually consuming the people's corpses.

Once the outsiders noticed that the bodies would simply lay there and rot if no action was taken, they put their brilliant minds together and resulted with several ideas,only one of which seemed even remotely possible compared to the others. The group decided that they would create the first C.D.M.

It took only a year and a half before the very first C.D.M was created. Because the citizens had informed them that it was too risky to burn the bodies the scientists couldn't include any fire, so it was chosen that the C.D.M s would just devour the bodies.

The original C.D.M had a large mouth on it's stomach, as well as one where it would normally be placed, between two lips on it's face, under it's nose. It was called 'A'. The next design was named 'B'. It continued this way until the naming process reached the letter 'Z', then the next was known as 'AA', and so on.

By the time the names had reached triple letters and all the C.D.M s were released into the desert to consume the bodies they had become such a terrifyingly troublesome problem.

They were not just eating dead bodies. They were attacking the monsters already living in the wild desert. The problem was, they were winning. Beings the size of average humans easily taking down twenty foot tall monsters and eating them.

A troublesome problem, indeed.


	5. Chapter 5

The most recently made model that was announced to the public was KAV. It had a mouth full of fangs, incredible power in it's arms and four dark purple appendages, dubbed to be either tentacles or tendrils which sprouted from it's back. It's night vision was said to be superb. The scientists had decided after the 'K - -' series of C.D.M s that they would stop the production of them, hoping that the corpse eaters would somehow die out.

Some people wonder: 'Why did they not cease and desist the making of the monsters making earlier?' The answer is, well, the corpses have to go somewhere don't they? With the amount of the supposedly indestructible C.D.M s around the Cradle now, they should be set to keep the bodies from piling up for at least another forty years.

Back to the topic, Ahrikii shook his head and dismissed the thoughts of those nightmare-ish monsters as he adjusted his cape and pulled his hood over his head, determined to leave the residence of his familiar and return to the White Dunes.

That was where he usually lived, continuously searching for employment in the mercenary department. He was convinced that somebody would hire him soon, he'd do an impressively, astoundingly, amazingly great job at it, then he would become the most popular and well known person in the business, make a fortune, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

Chukro, on the other hand, was on the more logical end of the stick, he believed that since he was charged with keeping Ahrikii safe, he should be in control of at least some of the more drastic and life-changing choices the young master tried to make.

Of course, no matter how much the familiar argued, it didn't change a thing.

  
The colossal wooden door slowly swung open with a near silent and a silhouette of the hooded boy was hardly visible against the dark back drop of the dusky dunes of sand. The familiar watched, the shape shrinking beneath a pile of sand as Ahrikii traveled across the desert.  
He carried with him a bag, which he had all of his belongings packed into. 'All of his belongings' didn't amount to much. Nothing more than a dusty old book and a few Kaduts, which were some gold coins which he was planning on using to purchase himself some food.

  
He couldn't even read the book as it was written in an ancient language, or at least that what his familiar told him. All else he knew on the tome was that he found it in a package addressed to him from Chukro, in the familiar's library. He never understood why the familiar never gave it to him himself, but instead left the leather bound pages wrapped in brown paper with a length of twine wound along its edges.

  
Several times he had attempted to read the book, but without extensive research he wouldn't have gotten, and didn't get, very far. He had managed to figure out a few words, but that was only because they resembled the language of words he usually spoke. He didn't even know if his translations were correct.  
He reached his hand into his bag and pulled out the thick, leathery object, inspecting its cover for the umpteenth time. It was brown with a few patches of water damage, a metal object was on the front. The silvery design depicted a strangely shaped shield with a blue border, and a picture of the sun on center of it with a large sword harnessed into the back of the shield.

He ran his finger along the edge, tracing out the shape of the shield. The metal object shook. Then it fell. He saw a glint of silver as it halfway buried itself in the sand. Ahrikii bent over and picked it up, flipping it over. The metal insignia wasn't just a decoration to the book. It was a badge.

  
Ahrikii looked down at the item with a confused look on his features. He rubbed his fingers gently over the surface of the insignia as if it were bade of glass, or another relatively delicate object. He didn't understand it before, now he was even more perplexed as he continued to turn the badge, rotating it, flipping it over, turning upside down, he just couldn't manage to place what it meant. On the back of the badge, the pin was perfectly preserved. Not a hint of rust, sand, or other impurities. Yet another thing the young man would have to add to his mental list of things he just wouldn't, and couldn't, understand.

  
He eyed the book's leather covering and spotted the two minuscule holes where the pin was. He carefully inserted the pin through one puncture mark and out of the other, clipping it back onto the book securely. He figured that if that was where it was when he found it, that's where it should stay, or, at least until he gets another clue on what the symbol on the front meant.

He sighed audibly as he opened his bag. He was still deep in thought of just what the book contained as he shoved the tome into his bag, then closed it back up as securely and safely as possible. Suddenly, he had a new feeling. This feeling told him that, though he didn't understand it, he must protect the book.

  
He inhaled deeply, trying to re-center his focus. He knew he was getting sidetracked, he was supposed to be going towards the White Dunes. It was dark, he knew this. He also knew that he had to hurry.

The bright light from the moon was shining in his eyes. Among the dark sky it almost burned. A radiating light, harsh to the eyes but still only barely illuminating the sand beneath him. He was starting to wish that he had taken a light source with him. He decided to pick up the pace with his walking. He was hoping to make it to the Dunes before the radiating jaws of the sun's light engulfed the desert, or before he came face to face with a C.D.M. Nobody wanted that.

He had always been taught how to fight C.D.Ms, but after a while, it seemed that all of the tried and true methods of taking one down began to fail. Everyone assumed different things, some said that the disappearing children was to be attributed to the kids running off and getting lost in the endless piles and mounds of sand. Others thought that the C.D.Ms were mutating to become stronger. Ahrikii desperately hoped that it was the former.

  
He tried his best to remember the path back to the small village. It was hard to spot in the day and nearly invisible in the night. He knew that around every night at moon high the people of the settlement extinguish all of their fires. One would think that it had just rained or some how a gust strong enough to put out over fifty fires blew by, like a giant taking a breath.

As he paced through the desert on his trek to the tiny village all he heard was the wind against his ears and his shuffling footsteps in the sand. He felt his feet sink some what. Just little. Only to about his ankle or so. It wasn't quicksand, the sand in the area bordering the White Dunes was just unusually loose and soft to the touch. It felt like silk if one may run their fingertips though it. He sighed and stood still for a moment.

  
The sound of footsteps should have stopped. He stopped walking, but the sound continued.

  
_Krssh. Krssh. Sffff._

  
Like staggered footsteps and dragging.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was a little longer, wasn't it? No worries, It'll keep getting longer as it goes on. Feel free to follow me at ceceloco.tumblr.com


	6. Chapter 6

Ahrikii began to panic. He knew running would cause his feet to slip deeper into the sand's almost twisting grasp. He felt the fear practically coiling around him. It was warm. He was wondering why he could actually feel something wrapping around his body, taking hold of his torso, trapping his arms close to his sides like a snake killing it's prey. He looked down at his chest and saw something coiled around him.

  
It looked like a long violet tendril. He tried to find out where it came from. He whipped his head to gaze behind him and was greeted by nothing but the desert's dunes. He checked underneath and above him, this presented the sand and the dark sky, respectively. He flicked his gaze back up briefly and caught a pair of red eyes gazing into his. He blinked first. He jolted back, writhing his body and trying to break free from the braiding grasp. Ahrikii kept his eyes trained on the face in front of him.

  
The person standing there had dark skin. Rippling purple scales crept across his left cheek and his night black hair almost blended in perfectly to the pitch black sky as Ahrikii stared up at the person, who was towering above him. His clothes were like rags, torn and ruined, even burned in some places, it appeared. The same scales lined his fingers, which were tipped with black daunting claws. The person smiled. A jaw full of razor blade like fangs didn't seem like the scariest thing on this person. The scariest thing was that he had three more of the tendrils that wrapped around Ahrikii coming out of his back. He spoke with a small amount of hostility in his voice, the person said,

  
"Hello there." His smile was near disgusting. Fangs appearing to have been forcibly pushed between his lips to make them all fit in his jaw. Ahrikii knew what he was. Corpse Disposal Monsters were sometimes called 'Sand Sharks' and it was only now that he realized why. "It kind of seems like you're lost to me." He continued to speak. "You know what happens to lost little boys like you, right?" He yanked Ahrikii up to his eye level, the shorter of the two was kicking and squirming, trying to escape.

  
"Let me go!" He couldn't think of anything else to shout at the man. He had about ten inches on him in height, and Ahrikii could see that this person would easily beat him if it came down to pure strength. "You monster!"

  
"Monster? Hey, now. That's not all that nice." He replied, feigning to be hurt, but this seemed just a tad sincere. "Look, little brats like you need to get your tempers and manners in order, but that's not what I caught you for." The man inspected Ahrikii. "You look scared. Why?"

  
"Wha- Well, y-you look like you're gonna kill me! That's why!" Ahrikii knew he looked scared. He could feel his body trembling, even as he was wrapped up in tendrils.

  
"I... Me? Kill you? No! I was gonna help you get to where you were headed! You seemed like you were lost, so I wanted to help, simple as that." He explained. "I'm Kav." He introduced himself with a toothy smile that still looked predatory. "Nice to meet you."

  
"You know," Ahrikii began, "I don't believe you for a second. You ambushed me and wrapped me up in... This thing!" He was shouting, hoping someone would hear him and come to rescue him from this monster. "If you wanted to help me, you would have just walked up to me like a normal person!"

  
"If I had done that you would have ran away. It's happened before. Look, this is territory for people like me, monsters, if that's what you call us now. I'm gonna help you leave, 'cause if you don't like me, you'll hate them." He explained. "I know this place well. Tell me where you want to go and I'll point you in the right direction."

  
Ahrikii thought he knew where to go,which way to take, but all around him, he could only see the tall sand mounds, no village in sight. He must have gotten lost,but he refused to believe that. He looked around a bit more, before finally admitting it,

  
"D-do you know where the White Dunes village is?" He said in a quiet voice, seemingly trying to make up for shouting at the man who was only trying to help. Kav nodded,

  
"There we go. It's that way." He used his tendril to rest Ahrikii back down on the sand and one of his hands to point over to his left. Ahrikii nodded a quick thanks and left, but only walked a few steps before turning back around to face Kav, realizing that he probably couldn't make it to the village with how dangerous it is at night.

  
"Wait." He called out to the C.D.M. "Come with me. I... I need the help."

  
"Kid, you don't want a monster following you around. People might get the wrong idea. You know they don't like seeing a _monster_ next to... Some one that's not." Kav answered, letting Ahrikii's hopes of getting help dampen a bit. Ahrikii's eyes traced around the dunes around him, trying to think of an excuse to convince Kav to go with him.

  
Manipulative.

  
He kept lifting his feet every so often to keep himself from sinking in the loose sand like it was water. His eyes lead themselves to focus on Kav's feet. He wasn't wearing any shoes and he wasn't sinking into the sand.

  
"Why aren't you sinking?" He asked simply, trying to stall Kav so that he can find a legitimate reason to get the monster to assist him.

  
"Come on, getting off topic, aren't you?" Damn. He got him there. "Well, I'm just made to not sink, that's all."

  
"Are you just really light?" Kav flinched. "You don't look like you eat much." The more Ahrikii kept talking, the more irritated Kav seemed to become.

  
"Quit bringing the conversation some where else, kid."

  
Ahrikii picked up his feet and closed the distance in between the taller man and himself. He moved forward until he wrapped his arms around Kav and with one tug, he lifted him up off of the sand and began walking off.

  
"There. Now you'll have to help me or we'll just get lost together."

  
Ahrikii could almost hear Kav say, so very quietly,

  
"Now who says that's a bad thing?" The two of them only covered a small amount of distance before Kav spoke up again, "That is really faulty logic you know." He retorted. He squeezed two of his tendrils in between Ahrikii's arms and his own body on either side and pushed outwards, causing Ahrikii to let go and Kav to land lightly back on the sand. "Why are you so damn persistent? You know you don't want to be seen with a monster."

  
"Why do you keep coming back to that?!" Ahrikii was beginning to get annoyed. "Does it really matter? Look, you aren't doing anything bad to me, so why would people think you're not a good person?" He huffed loudly, throwing his arms to his sides.

  
"They don't care. The people in that village have shot me with more arrows than I can count. They didn't care then, they won't care now." Kav responded in a tone fused with anger and yet he still sounded calm. No, it wasn't calm, it sounded more dejected.

  
"If you take me to the White Dunes, I'll get you some food." This offer piqued Kav's interest. The C.D.M sighed and shrugged his shoulders,

  
"Fine, I'll take you. Only because I need to eat though." He began walking to the west of where Ahrikii was facing, leaving him behind. "Well? You want to go the the White Dunes, don't you?"

  
Ahrikii followed, though at a slower pace, due to his feet constantly getting gripped by the ground beneath him.

  
"Why don't you eat though?" He tried to get to know the person escorting him better with a question. One that he realized might not have been the best to ask. Kav looked at Ahrikii with a face that basically showed him wondering if the young boy was daft.

  
"You think I can just go into the towns and buy food?"It then hit the younger of the pair that he was probably digging up bad memories like a dog using it's three front hooves to unearth the bones that it had stored for a rainy day. This was no rainy day. It was an incredibly cold night as they walked through the desert.

  
"Sorry..." Ahrikii muttered, his shoulders lifting a small bit. "Ummm- are those things extendable?"He pointed at the four tendrils on Kav's back. Two took their place shoulder blades and the other two on either side of his spine at his lower back. The way he was holding then made his silhouette look almost like that of an angel. Yes, one of those creatures with the four watching eyes on their face and the long slithering tail.

  
"Extendable?" Kav narrowed his eyes. "What made you ask that? Why?"

  
"Well it's just, you wrapped one of them around me. It went around six times or so. They don't look that long now." Ahrikii tried to explain his train of thought awkwardly, complete with strange hand gestures. Kav couldn't help but let out a small smirk as he watched Ahrikii struggle with his justification of his speculation. Ahrikii paused mid way through his chatting and glared at Kav with pursed lips.

  
"What? I thought it was funny to watch you have a hard time with this." With Kav's condescending wording Ahrikii huffed. "Awww sorry.I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." He talked like he was talking to a small animal, a child or perhaps a pet. This got Ahrikii thinking. He wondered if the C.D.M was talking him where he wanted to go. Kav could be leaving him somewhere where it would just be more convenient to kill him. Corpse Disposal Monsters have unhinge-able jaws. They were _made_ to eat people. Dead people, that was correct years ago. But it wasn't now. He knew that he could be walking to his death right now. No, he didn't know before, but the realization just hit him like a truck. Two fingers snapped in front of his eyes. Kav was trying to snag his attention with the quick noise.

  
"Hello? You okay? You looked a little spacey there for a second."

  
"Yeah. I'm fine."

  
"Anyways," Kav drew the word out, "We're getting kind of close to the Dunes." He stopped walking and pushed himself to stand tall on his toes so he could gaze over the tall swells of sand. "Yeah. Just a little further." He resumed his previous pace as he made progress in crossing the desert. Ahrikii was still ever so cautious around his travelling buddy. He almost jumped when Kav began talking, breaking the vast expanse of silence that covered the desert like a sheet.

  
"I know it might not be my place to ask, but why were you out this late?" Ahrikii looked up at him just as Kav cast him a downwards glance. "It's almost like you WANT to get eaten." That sounded extremely predatory.

  
"Well, I needed to get back to the Dunes. I... Live there." That was certainly convincing, especially with all those pauses.

  
"Hm, sure." Kav fixed his view forwards and kept walking up the dune. The two of them continued in an almost strangling silence before Kav suddenly stopped in his tracks.  
"You see where the village is, right?" He pointed out at the series of small shapes and flickering lights of varying colors. "Yeah, that's the White Dunes. And this is where you go on your own."


	7. Chapter 7

Ahrikii looked at Kav and opened up his bag, rustling through it's contents. He took out a parcel just bigger than his hand. It was wrapped in a gray parchment and and tied with twine.

  
"Here. Food." Kav gratefully accepted the package and turned to start walking away, but Ahrikii stopped him. Yeah, just like he did when he was asking for help earlier. It seemed like he was going to do it again. He swung his bag back in front of him and opened it up.

  
He took out the item that was taking most of the space and making up most of the weight of his pouch. The book. He ran his fingers over the leather cover, the spine and finally the pin on the front. He handed the book over the the monster in front of him.

  
"Do you know what this is?" He tilted his head. "It's written in a different language and this thing on the front is not just a thing stuck on the book it's detachable or something." He explained, very, very poorly.

  
"The... Thing." Kav repeated.

"This!" He tapped the pin.

  
"Oh." Kav opened up the book and flipped through it quickly. "No. I don't know it. Never seen this thing either." He touched the silvery object just as Ahrikii had.

  
"Damn." That means it didn't have anything to do with CDMs.

  
Ahrikii took the book back and roughly shoved it back into his pouch and waved to Kav as he left. When he was maybe halfway to the town he looked back at the CDM behind him and he swore he could see another ghostly figure next to him.

  
He tilted his head and observed for a little bit. It looked like they were talking. That didn't concern him very much so he decided to keep walking towards the White Dunes. Once he arrived he walked through s couple alleyways and made it safely to his 'home'.

  
This home was really nothing more than a small building on the outskirts of the town that nobody claimed to own. It had a couple old mattresses in it and some blankets. That was enough for him.

  
No matter how many times Chukro would offer to house Ahrikii in the tower bordering the forest, he would always turn him down. Ahrikii just wanted to stand on his own two feet, like his father was trying to teach him before.

  
Sometimes he could look up at the stars from inside his house due to the hole in the ceiling. It was a good thing it didn't ever rain much, what with the area surrounding him being a desert.

  
Ahrikii truly did wonder what he was supposed to do next.

  
"Maybe I should just look around for jobs." He though to himself as he sat down on the mattress near to the wall and rested his bag down with a light noise of clattering metal. He was reminded of the mysterious pin on the book.

  
"Or... I could find out what that thing is." He was at battle with this idea. On one hand he did need money to buy food. On the other hand this book and pin could lead him to money. It was just his nature to find out the solution to mysteries and the like. So on the third hand he was incredibly curious. But curiosity could kill the cat, or in this case, the scorpion.

  
Just before he fell asleep he decided that he would ask around the town to see if anybody knew anything about the book. If nobody told him anything interesting then he would go check the bulletin board for a job.

  
"Preferably something manageable." He kept reminding himself. He always did have a nasty habit of biting off more than he could chew, in this case, taking jobs meant for teams of experts on by himself.

  
Of course he always got torn a new one and reprimanded by the town's council. They were tired of dealing with him coming back and making the medics use their supplies to fix him up countless times as well as Ahrikii taking the jobs and the people capable of doing them would be left with nothing to do. The orange- pink morning sun shone almost blindingly into his eyes through the open doorway to his 'house'.

  
"Wait, why is the door open?" He asked himself silently as he looked around, wary and cautious. He reached for his knife when he saw a familiar face lying on the ground.

  
It was none other than the monster that helped him with directions back to the White Dunes. His shirt was torn open and he had a large purple bruise on his lower abdomen. His lip was bloodied as well as the side of his head, causing his hair to become wet and stick to his scalp.

  
"Kav?" He called the CDM's assigned name and nudged him with his foot. Kav groaned and rubbed his eyes. He sat up with a small hiss and the help of his tendrils.  
"Hm? Oh. Hey kid." He gave a small grin, "So, this is where they dumped me." He said with a quiet voice.

  
"Who? What the hell happened to you?" Ahrikii looked him up and down, surveying his injuries. He wanted to help but he knew nothing on the topic of medicine and taking him further in to town to get to the actual medic certainly out of the question.

  
"Nothing big, kid. Don't worry." He pushed his hands on his knees as he stood up shakily, almost needing to place his hand on the wall to prevent himself from toppling over. Nevertheless, Ahrikii was still ready to catch him in case he did fall.

  
"Who did this to you? They've gotta be pretty tough." He muttered the second part of his statement.

  
"I'm telling you, it's not a big deal. Just point me the way out of this town and I'll be outta your hair." Kav kept downplaying his injuries. Ahrikii knew that the mark on his stomach was probably nothing major, but the blood sticking his hair down definitely was.

  
"I-I, um..." Ahrikii couldn't think of anything that he could say to convince Kav to stay instead of returning to whatever monster attacked him. He knew he couldn't help him very much, if at all. "Look, I'll go in to town and get some bandages at least." He took a deep breath and recollected his scattered thoughts. Who's thoughts wouldn't be scattered if they saw somebody who was practically an outlaw (albeit one that helped him) turn up bloody and bruised at his door?

  
"Y-you sure?" Kav muttered. His voice was rough and gravelly. Ahrikii thought that his voice changed massively from the deep and smooth voice that was filling his thoughts the previous night. "I don't want to be a bother. You know what they'd do if they knew who you were helping?"

  
"Yeah, I know." Ahrikii said with a small pause before deciding he needed to say something to pull the tides back in his favor. "Forget that, though I don't care. They won't find out." He was rather confident in his skills, which weren't the best, but he could get away with purchasing bandages. "I'll just go in, ask for some supplies to disinfect and treat a cut then I'll come back." He explained his course of action to Kav with a slight nod. "For now just sit on the bed, or take a nap or something. I'll be back soon."

  
Ahrikii opened his bag and took out a small pouch, leaving the rest of his belongings in the dilapidated shack.

  
"Don't go outside while I'm gone." He walked out of the door and closed it on his way out.

  
Ahrikii walked through the soft sand until he came across the stone flooring of the inner White Dunes. He pulled the hood of his cloak over his head. He had to be careful, just in case those soldiers from before filed an arrest request for him. The people of White Dunes were incredibly greedy, ready to pounce like a cat on any opportunity to get money or fame. He sighed and pulled his tail up from just above the floor and wrapped it around his waist to keep it from being seen easily.

  
He had to travel northwest through the town for about ten minutes, taking every back trail and alley way presented to him. He was constantly hoping that he didn't look suspicious.

  
Eventually he reached the medical shop. It was a short building made out of sandstone bricks with a mahogany red colored roof and two windows in the front which you could see the medicine counter through. He was lucky that the building was empty.

  
"Hey, Marisha." He waved to the girl behind the counter. She had her back to him as she restocked the medicines before turning around to greet Ahrikii. As she smiled and nodded her head her curly black locks bounced.

  
"Hi! What do you need today, Ahrikii?" She grinned brightly, happy to help her friend.

  
"Well, first I need to know if I'm wanted in this place," He said softly, "and secondly I need some supplied to patch up a cut."

  
"Wanted? Like a criminal? No." She explained. "Oooh, that was why you were wandering around looking like a scared rat." She tapped her chin. "And to patch up a cut, you want some bandages and treatments, right?" To her question Ahrikii answered with a nod.

  
"Yes please."

  
"Well, you don't look injured. Who's it for?" She asked as she sorted out the medicine and grabbed what Ahrikii was asking for. "And I've also got half a mind to ask you why you think you were outlawed, in your own home town, no less." She said with a scoff "But I'll just stick to the first question."

  
"Mind your own business Marisha." Ahrikii was actually quite used to Marisha asking him questions like this and sticking her nose where it doesn't belong. He did want to tell her who it was for, so maybe she could come over and help. He knew her since they were young children so he knew he could trust her.

  
"Aw, come on, tell me." She poked him in the stomach with her index finger. Ahrikii batted her hand away,

  
"Fine, but you have to come with me to see, and you can't tell anybody. No matter what."

  
"Alrighty, I promise!" She drew two fingers across her lips. "Just give me a second and I'll close up the shop for break."  
Ahrikii was hoping he didn't just make a terrible mistake.


	8. Chapter 8

On their way back the entire time Ahrikii was worried about showing Kav to Marisha. She was a friend, he knew she wouldn't tell people about what she saw, but he didn't know if she'd approve. She may keep his secret but she might not want to be friends any more.

  
The stone beneath their feet gradually transitioned to sand and soon they were in front of Ahrikii's door.

  
"Okay... Just remember what I said about keeping this a secret..." Ahrikii took in a deep breath and sighed before pushing his door open. Before he looked into his house he heard the movement of fabric and a small bump. He peeked in and saw Kav pressed into a corner. It looked as if Ahrikii may have startled him a bit.

  
"Hm? Who's this?" Marisha asked with a slight tilt of her head.

  
"Marisha, this is Kav. Kav, this is Marisha. She's gonna help patch you up."

  
"Kav? Oookay..." She said, piecing the information together. "Can I talk to you outside for a bit, Ahrikii?" She asked. Before giving him a chance to respond she grabbed him by the wrist and walked out, shutting the door. "Isn't Kav a... CDM?" She said the last part in a hushed tone.

  
"Yeah, but... Look, he's actually really nice, okay?" Marisha looked at him blankly for a second before letting out a giggle. "Wha? What's so funny?"

  
"Psh, I was just thinking, Isn't he a little old for you Ahri?"

  
"Shut up!" Ahrikii pushed her in the chest lightly. "Can you help him or not?"

  
"Oooh sure, but not as good as you could." She replied with a mocking tone as she raised her eyebrows and gave Ahrikii a side glance. She saw that her teasing was irritating him.

  
"Be serious!" Ahrikii spoke with a tone that a frustrated child would use.

  
"Yeah, yes. I can." She said as her giggling calmed down and opened up the door.

  
She looked at Kav, giving him the up and down glance that she uses to inspect people's injuries quickly. She took a few shaky steps towards him. Marisha wasn't sure about this anymore. She was dealing with a corpse disposal monster. Emphasis on the word 'monster'.

  
'I can do this.' She tried to reassure herself. She opened up the small satchel that she was keeping the medical supplies in. 'He's just another patient.' She took in a deep breath and sighed out, taking out the disinfectant. 'I already told Ahrikii I would, anyways.'

  
She knelt down with a small piece of cotton in her unsteady fingertips. As she took out the bottle of disinfectant she managed to settle herself.

  
"O-okay... Where are you hurt, exactly?" She pushed the cotton to the open mouth of the bottle and tipped them both, soaking the cotton with the cold liquid. Kav pointed to the top left side of his head, just above his ear and his temple. "Alright... This might sting a little bit." She was almost fearful that he would react poorly to this.

  
She pressed the swab onto the wound. Kav didn't show any real signs of pain at this point. None at all. Marisha looked at him confusedly.

  
"Hm? Oh. It just hurt less than the actual cut I guess." He explained.

  
"Oooh, can your species read minds?" She asked with a nervous laugh tacked onto the end of her question.

  
"Um, no? Just good intuition." He explained.

  
"Oh. Hah, okay." She took out the bandages and began wrapping them around his head. Eventually she clipped the end to one of the layers of bandage and cut it from the rest of the roll using a sharp metal knife. Kav touched the bandage lightly and nodded in approval.

  
"Thanks. I guess I'll be taking my leave now." Kav pushed himself up and off of the mattress, gently placing his hand on his head. Ahrikii hated this idea.

  
"No, you're staying here." He stated simply. He didn't give Kav much of a choice in the matter.

  
"Wow, that's kind of pushy." Kav said. "You still know the possible consequences, right?" He felt as though he needed to remind Ahrikii of these. He didn't want to get in trouble for him not knowing.

  
Ahrikii, on the other side, was sick of hearing Kav rejecting his help. He couldn't care any less about the consequences. Kav helped him, now he wanted to return the favor. As he thought about this he began to feel like one of those vile deal- making demons. Their deals were never free of restrictions and underhandedness, but Ahrikii's was.

  
"I'm not giving you a choice, here." He stated. He was getting frustrated.

  
"Really, now, kid?" Kav closed the distance between them. The top of Ahrikii's head reached just above Kav's chin. "If I try to leave, you can't stop me." Kav narrowed his eyes aggressively to get his point across.

  
That was the truth. Ahrikii truly couldn't prevent Kav from leaving his household. He recalled when they first met just a little while ago. Kav easily picked him up with one of his tendrils. Ahrikii knew that he could have just as easily crushed his rib cage. This began to worry him.

  
'Thinking like this won't get me anywhere!' He reminded himself. He didn't keep eye contact with Kav, he kept his focus mainly on the floor.'But what if he does hurt me? I shouldn't make him mad... He could eat me...'

  
"Hm?" Kav looked at Ahrikii. He saw how frightened he was. He could practically hear his heartbeat. He _could_ hear it, like a caged animal trying to get away, scratching and pounding on it's cage. He didn't mean to scare the kid. He just wanted to leave the house. It's not that he was ungrateful, he was just worried.

  
Ahrikii's shoulders and jaw were tensed. His eyes were tracing the cracks in the floor. His tail shifted nervously underneath his cloak.

  
"Hey, hey, kid." Kav was legitimately worried. He didn't want a bad reputation for himself, especially with the only non- monster willing to help him out. "Look, I see you want to help me," He took a step back, as he did this, Ahrikii flinched slightly ."But I think it's better if you don't keep me here."

  
"Alright, break it up, you love birds." Marisha chuckled. "Listen, Kav? Was it? Any ways, if you go out there, I'm almost certain something will smell your blood and hunt you down while you're weak." She explained. "I really advise against it."

  
"But I-"

  
"I know, I know, you're strong. Isn't that what you were going to say?" As she cut him off Kav looked flabbergasted. "I've got good intuition too." She grinned. "Anyways, he's offering you help! Why don't you get over yourself, swallow your damn pride and take it?"

  
Kav couldn't argue back anymore. She got him pinned. He sighed out,

  
"Fine, but I hope the authorities don't check here when they make their rounds."

  
"Alrighty!" Marisha said with a little jump and a clap of her two hands together. "So...I'll just leave you two alone now." She grinned and tip toed backwards out of the tiny building, leaving Kav and Ahrikii by themselves.

  
Kav knew that he was sounding a bit aggressive in his previous statements. He did have a good reason though. He just didn't want Ahrikii to get arrested.

  
'What kind of payback would that be for somebody who gave me food?' He thought to himself. The two of them both knew that the punishment for harboring a monster, especially a CDM, was rather severe. It could range from torture to flat out execution for endangering the town.  'Ahrikii must be pretty damn confident if he's doing this for me.' He couldn't help but wonder if that confidence was false. Though, why would it be?

  
His gaze drifted back over to Ahrikii, who had left the small house to walk around outside for a bit, as if doing a patrol. After a couple seconds he came back and closed the door behind him with a small sigh. It doesn't take very long to walk around a building the size of a small bedroom. Especially when there was literally nothing but sand around it.

  
Ahrikii glanced at the area where the wall met the floor just to the left of the door way.

  
"Hey, where's my bag?" He pointed to the empty space. "You, know, I swear I left it here. I wonder if Marisha took it..." He pondered as he took a small walk around the room.  
In just a short while of looking around he found his satchel. It was sitting next to the mattress that Kav was on, with the CDM looking awfully suspicious at that point.


	9. Chapter 9

"Eh? Why's it over here?" He asked nobody in particular. Not that there was anybody in particular listening. "Kav?" His gaze shifted to the other 'person', who was lying on his back, his fingertips gently rubbing his newly applied bandages.

  
"Hm? Why's your bag there? Dunno." He shrugged after echoing Arhikii's question to himself.

 

"Really?" Ahrikii said with a sarcastic tone. "You sure you don't know? I know that somebody moved it." He stated.

  
"Maybe you put it here by mistake then. You were pretty worried." Kav said with a flat tone of voice.

  
"I always put it there. You moved it. You were looking through my things" Ahrikii sure was certain. If he was wrong Kav would probably be pretty upset. If he was wrong.   
He wasn't.

  
"Fine, fine. So what, kid?" Kav rolled his eyes. "I was looking through that book again. I thought you wanted my help to find out what it was." Kav was trying to turn the conversation around. Trying to make it seem like it was Ahrikii on the wrong side of it.

  
"I do, but you should have asked me. I got a little worried, is all." Ahrikii said. "So, do you recognize any of it?" He asked. Ahrikii really was curious to know what the writing in the book said. That curiosity only doubled after sleeping on it for a night. He knew if he didn't find this out soon he'd lose his mind.

  
"Sorry, still no." Kav shook his head. Ahrikii sighed loudly and sat down heavily next to Kav, causing the CDM to slide a little bit closer to him. To stop this, Kav sat up. "I wasn't done talking, you know, kid."

  
Ahrikii was listened with eager ears and a mind even more so for Kav to continue speaking.

  
"Okay. I don't know what it says, but what I do know is that it's not a language." He said, taking the book back out of the brown pouch that served as Ahrikii's bag.

  
"How do you know though? You didn't do any research or anything. Heck, you barely had it for ten minutes." Ahrikii snatched the book from Kav and opened up the cover, staring rather intensely at the front page.

  
"Listen, us Corpse Disposal... Monsters," He seemed reluctant to say the last word, "we were made with knowledge of every language." Kav tried to explain why he knew what he did about the writing to Ahrikii. "We can communicate in any language." Ahrikii was confused, but he decided that believing what Kav was saying was probably the best lead he had on finding out.

  
"But why didn't you tell me sooner, when we first met?"

  
"I didn't know. Okay, frankly I just didn't care to help you." He shrugged.

  
"That's mean. Whatever, do you know what it is, then?"

  
"Yeah. I do. It may not be a language, but it is a code."

  
"A-a code..." Ahrikii echoed. "Okay, can you decipher it, or anything?" He asked. He was hoping with Kav's vast knowledge of languages he could maybe crack the key for the code so that they could possibly understand the book. Ahrikii was investigating the book, rubbing it's cover and back, tying to see if there was anything engraved on those pieces that maybe held the answer to his question.

  
"Hmm... No." Kav thought for a couple seconds before giving Ahrikii his final answer. "If it was a letter-for-letter kind of code, I probably could have, but you see this?" He points at one of the pages. "It's a word-for-word code."

  
He was right. Each of the symbols were spaced out one by one, instead of grouped together to form words like letters would. They didn't need to, because they were already words in and of themselves.

  
"Symbols to mean words?" Ahrikii clarified verbally. Kav nodded to this. "Nobody does that anymore..." Ahrikii had a little bit of knowledge on some ancient cultures that used symbols and lines to mean whole words, but those civilizations were long gone.

  
"Sorry I can't help more." Kav lied back down. "Man, I'm suddenly really sleepy..." He kitted his brow as he gazed at the wall next to the mattress, trying to stay awake.

"Yeah, Marisha put something that would make you a little bit tired on your wound." Ahrikii said. "You should probably get some rest." With that, Kav nodded and slipped into sleep, but Ahrikii was wide awake and decided to out to the town with the book again.

 

He just had to find out more about the book now. As soon as he learned that it was written in code he felt as if it was a need of his to figure out what the book had written in it.  
Ahrikii asked around desperately, talking to shopkeepers, librarians and even random strangers as he continued his investigation. He ran around, holding the book out to people, displaying the pin, then opening it to a random page and asking them if they knew anything about either the writing or the pin. Person after person told him no. Either they didn't know, or they didn't want to tell him.

  
Unfortunately, after several hours he came up empty handed. He decided to give up for the night and retire to his home. He began walking back out of the city, hearing nothing but the sound of the winds against his cloak and the shuffling, defeated sound of his footsteps on the sand.

  
He opened up his front, and only, door to see Kav still sleeping soundly. Ahrikii didn't feel like he needed to sleep yet. Since he hadn't done any work for the past couple of days he decided that it would be best if he at least goes to check the bulletin board for a job before he goes to bed. He didn't need to do the job yet, just take it. Once he got there one slip of paper caught his eye.


	10. Chapter 10

The paper had 'Protection Needed' written on it in a large font and green ink. He took the metal pin out of the top of it and removed the parchment from the wooden board, holding it in both his hands as he read it.

  
"Protection Needed..." He read aloud. "Large sum of money will be rewarded to the protector... Meet in room 152 at the Gusty Inn at eight AM tomorrow for more details." Ahrikii sincerely hoped that the request was posted that day. The promise of reward money was very tempting.

  
Ahrikii accepted the job,folding the paper in half once and slipping it carefully into his bag before heading back towards his home. Once he arrived he gently pushed Kav over to one side of the bed from his sprawled out position and lay down. Ahrikii's mind was swimming. He didn't know what he should focus on. The book, or the request that he had just taken. He pursed his lips as he thought. He couldn't go to sleep before he decided on one of them. He stayed awake for a couple minutes until he decided on focusing on the job, on the basis of 'finding out what the book says probably won't get me money.' He shut his eyes and fell asleep.

  
In the morning Ahrikii woke after Kav. He looked outside. It was still early and the sun was just rising.

  
"Good morning, sleepy head." Kav said, smoothing down his bed head. "You nearly pushed me off the bed." He chuckled.

  
"Well it's not my fault you're so light." Ahrikii said with a smirk. He took out a comb from his bag and gave his hair a quick fix-up before picking up his things.

  
"Where are you going?"

  
"Out to the town. You know, so I can get us some money to buy food." Ahrikii explained as he opened his bag to fetch the request.

  
"Can I come too?" Kav asked.

  
"Hell no." Ahrikii said as if the answer was obvious. He guessed it wasn't because if it was then the question wouldn't have had to be asked. "If the townspeople see you they'll kill you on sight."

  
"Then I'll just kill them!" Kav seemed a little bit too enthusiastic about his suggestion for it to be a joke.

  
"No! Just... Stay here, okay?" Ahrikii shouted at first, but then his voice settled.

  
"Fine, what kind of job are you going to do, then?" Kav asked with a bored expression. Ahrikii handed Kav the sheet of paper. Kav held it in his fingertips, feeling the edge of the paper. It was rough, seemed kind of burned, actually. "This seems kind of sketchy..." He muttered, suspicious.

  
"Well it says there's a big reward, so I'm doing it." He plucked the paper from Kav's fingers and put it back in his bag. "I'll see you later. It shouldn't take too long."

  
"Bye, then." Kav was worried for a good reason. The job was certainly not a normal one.

  
Ahrikii entered the Gusty Inn and walked up the sandstone steps up onto the second floor and down the hall until he came to room number 152. He hoped he was on time. He balled his fingers into a fist and rapped on the door with his knuckles. He heard the shuffling of clothes. The shuffling of feet. Perhaps the shuffling of other things. The door opened. Just slightly.

  
A girl was standing in the crack between the door and the wall. Her many braids of shoulder length black hair dangled in front of her chest as she leaned over to peek out of the door. Her incredibly dark brown eye was staring daggers at Ahrikii. Black powder make up was dusted on the dark skin around her eye, but light skinned finger tips held the door. Ahrikii handed her the paper with the protection request written on it to her.

  
"Come inside." She said softly as she opened the door wider, allowing Ahrikii to enter.

  
She had light skin on her face as well, just to the left of her lip. He also spotted some on her shoulders and neck, places which her white and light blue flowy dress did not cover. Some on her legs underneath her legs too. She huffed. She could feel Ahrikii staring. Though it wasn't because he though she looked strange, but because she was beautiful.

  
"My name is Shastri. I put out that request for protection. I need to go somewhere." She changed the unspoken subject. "Where that is isn't important to you." Shastri seemed rather gruff with her speech. "Once we leave I will give you directions until we get there. We leave tomorrow at this time. Meet me back here then. For now, leave."

  
Ahrikii did as he was told and exited the room. His head hurt a bit but he began his walk home. Once he arrived Kav asked him what had happened.

  
"Somebody wants me to take them somewhere." Ahrikii really couldn't give very many more details to Kav. That was because he himself wasn't given very many details.

  
"Okay... That's pretty vague." Kav gave him a sideways glance. "Are you sure this person doesn't want to kill you or something?"

  
"Yes, I'm sure." He really wasn't "Just trust me, okay?" Ahrikii set his bag down. "I have to meet her again tomorrow to leave for this place. I think you should come with us." He suggested.

  
"Wait, her?" Kav grinned. "Hmmm, who's the lucky lady, huh, kid?" He decided to lighten the mood a little bit by teasing him.

  
"Her name's Shastri." He replied with a roll of his eyes. "And it's not like that. It's just me guiding her somewhere."

  
"Hmm... That name sounds kind of familiar, but I just can't quite place it..." Kav sighed. Now that it was mentioned, Ahrikii found that that name was already known to them, but forgotten. "Alright, so you think it's a good idea to bring me along, why?" He continued.

  
"I don't know how long I'll be gone, this is just for good measures. Besides, you would be pretty useful here. I know you're strong." Ahrikii said, recalling the time Kav appeared out of no where and picked him up with no problem.

  
"Yeah, sure, I'll tag along. If that's what you want."

  
"Great. We leave tomorrow."


	11. Chapter 11

       The night that passed was incredibly slow. It inched by sleeplessly, not for Kav but for Ahrikii. The suspicions that Kav had voiced affected Ahrikii. He now didn't know whether or not he was doing the right thing. That usually didn't affect him. Not to the point of insomnia, at least.  
It never mattered to Ahrikii whether or not he was doing the right thing, he only cared that he got paid for it. As long as he wouldn't need to kill any important people like the king or queen he was fine with it. Now, he wasn't so sure. Shastri was incredibly sketchy. But he did already take the job, so there wasn't any real way he could back out of it at that point.

  
      He simply tried to shut his eyes but every time he felt himself falling asleep he would wake up again. He didn't know why. He just did. Kav was sound asleep next to him on the mattress, facing away from Ahrikii and not making a single sound. He was made to hide and ambush others after all. The four dark blue and lilac tendrils lay in front of him and Ahrikii felt the urge to touch them. Ultimately he decided against it and rolled over, putting his back to Kav's.

  
      Ahrikii let out a small sigh. If he couldn't sleep he could at least close his eyes and let his body rest, if not his mind. He felt as though he could sense each second, minute, hour passing. Eventually after the night was finished he felt a warm hand on his shoulder, jostling him lightly. He opened up his eyes, closed them and then rubbed them with closed fists. For a split second he didn't recognize the person in front of him, but once he remembered that he had taken in a certain stranger a little while ago he realized that it was just Kav. He still couldn't believe that he was allowing a person-eating monster to sleep in the same bed as him.

  
       "Hey, kid, are you alright?" Kav had a concerned look in his eyes while he asked Ahrikii the question. "You wouldn't wake up when I called you." He gently pulled his hand back. Ahrikii shook his head, not to say no, but to wake himself up a bit more. He waved a hand to dismiss Kav's worries.

  
"Yeah... I'm good. Let's pack up anything we'll need and get ready to go." 

Ahrikii packed a small dagger,which was the only weapon he had, some money, whatever food he could find, and finally his book. He had a sneaking suspicion that Shastri might know what something on or in the book means. Kav didn't pack anything because he had nothing to pack anything in, and nothing to pack at all.

  
"Okay, I'm gonna head out." Ahrikii stated. "You stay here and I'll come back for you once I've met up with Shastri." He explained to his friend. "From there we'll take her where she needs to go." Ahrikii promptly left the small house and headed towards the village.

  
       After just a little bit of walking and self doubt, Ahrikii made it to the inn that Shastri was staying at. He went back up to her room and knocked on the door. He heard the click of the door's lock and it opened a small bit then wider once the person on the other side recognized her guide. Shastri had a burlap bag slung over her shoulder. With ever move she made loud metal clangs were heard from inside the fabric pouch. She had the same stern look on her face as she pushed her way past Ahrikii.

  
"I'll lead the way." She said with a gruff tone. Ahrikii was about to raise the question of bringing Kav along when she already left the building. Ahrikii chased after her.

  
"So... I have a friend I want to bring with me." He was preparing himself for her to decline the request he was making, but all she did was nod.

  
"Fine. Lead me to them and we'll continue from there."

  
"Seriously? Great! Come this way then." He began walking in the opposite way that Shastri was going. In short time they made it back to his tiny shack. He opened the creaky door and called in, "Kav, you ready?"

  
As soon as Kav stepped into Shastri's vision it seemed like she pulled a knife out of thin air as she held the slim metal to his chest. "You're friends with a monster?" She narrowed her eyes.

  
"Relax! He's fine okay?" Ahrikii gently grabbed Shastri's hand and lowered it. "Listen, if you don't want me bringing him along then you can go ahead and get someone else to do the job." Since the previous night Ahrikii was secretly hoping that she would pick somebody else to help her. After a few seconds of what seemed like decision making on Shastri's end she pulled her bag in front of her and stuck the knife back in it.

  
"Fine, but he stays at least five feet away from me at all times." She hissed and began walking away. "What are you waiting for? Let's go!" She shouted back at the two.  
Ahrikii and Kav glanced at each other before running off to join Shastri.

  
"Hey, so um... I've never seen anybody pull a knife that fast." Kav stated, violating the 'five feet away' rule already. Shastri shot him a glare that caused him to back up a bit. "Where did you learn how to do that? If anything I don't really think you need protection. Especially from him." He whispered the last bit. It was clear that he was awkwardly trying to make some form of small talk with Shastri.

  
"Maybe you should shut your mouth, you stupid monster." She nearly growled out. At that moment they were heading just east of the village. Away from both Ahrikii's home and the icy forest that was somehow situated in the desert. It was at that moment when it hit Ahrikii like a truck what a bad choice he made in taking the job request. The two of them had only walked for about a minute or so before Ahrikii opened his bag and took out the book, still embellished with the pin on the front cover. He passed it to Shastri, anxious to know if she had any enlightenment to share on it.

  
"I found this a long time ago." He spoke calmly, containing that deadly curiosity of his. "And I recently found out that this pin on it is some kind of crest for something important." He explained as Shastri took the book from him. Unlike what he thought she was going to do, which was snatch it from him violently, she took it in her finger tips and held it gently in her hands like a delicate porcelain doll.

  
She skimmed the pages with dexterous small flips, never bending or tugging or creasing any of the parchment. Her eyes flicked left and right as she took in the knowledge of the books contents. She seemed to be deep in thought, creasing her brow and trying to decrypt the symbols written in the pages of the ancient book.

  
She was so entranced in fact that she didn't realize the person in front of her as she bumped into Kav, nearly throwing him over at the same time. She looked up and made eye contact with him, taking her attention away from the book briefly as she let out a snarl and moved to put more space in between the two of them. On the way to the other side of the trio she handed the book back to Ahrikii, still being as gentle with it as when she first took it in her hands.

  
"I don't know what that is." She said simply. Ahrikii almost let his shoulders fall, but he was honestly expecting a reaction like Shastri's. If nobody in the town knew about the book, why would a stranger? In all reality a foreign stranger would probably be the most likely person to know of the tome or its origins, but it seemed otherwise. Suddenly, Shastri tilted her direction to the left a tad, altering their course. The other two followed her without question. That was because they didn't know any better. They didn't know what she was doing.

  
Kav and Ahrikii were walking through the sand, two tendrils and one scorpion tail dragging along the sandy floor. Two people left heavy footprints, one barely left any at all. Kav was staying the designated five feet away from Shastri, who was leading her two guardians to her destination. Much time passed. Long inky black shadows were cast from their bodies as the sun began to set. In their shadows they looked like fearsome monsters, but in reality they were just mere people. Not even taller than seven feet. Not fearsome at all, save for just one of them.


	12. Chapter 12

Shastri saw the fact that the sun was turning from blinding white light to a more orange tinted one and the sky surrounding it was turning pink. Shastri began looking around. Just on the horizon she could spot the silhouette of a couple buildings. As she focused more she realized that it was closer than the horizon.

Shastri broke into a run as she tried to get to the town. Her two protectors looked shocked for a split second before chasing after her, Kav outdoing Ahrikii in speed rather easily.

"Come on! There's a village there! Once we get there we can get and inn room." She turned around and started running backwards while she was facing Kav and Ahrikii as she talked to them. Kav grinned lightly, showing that keeping up with her wasn't a challenge. It seemed more like a jog to him.

"No problem." He passed her by far then stood still for a couple seconds while he waited for Shastri and Ahrikii to get to his distance. After maybe ten minutes of running Ahrikii was panting heavily as he pushed his hands on his knees and stopped moving to catch his breath.

"Guys," He called out in between his deep breaths. "come on, wait for me!" Kav walked over with a smirk.

"Wow, kid. Are you even fit for doing this kind of job?" He laughed lightly with his comment. "Get up, I'm not going to carry you." Kav said as he turned and kept walking with Shastri, who had slowed down considerably when she heard that Ahrikii was having trouble with keeping up.

"You know what, I'm going to take a little break." Ahrikii huffed as he sat down on the sand. Kav and Shastri both groaned in unison as they walked back to him.

"Gee, kid. At this rate, I may just have to carry you." Kav spoke with a downwards glance at Ahrikii. Suddenly he reached out one of his tendrils and grabbed something off of the sand. In the extra limb, he held a small creature, long and slender and squirming. A snake, nearly the same colour as the sand itself. "Woah, that was a little bit too close." He said, pointing at the snake with his finger. "What do you reckon we do with the little guy? And I'm talking about the snake, not the scorpion." He was obviously teasing Ahrikii. Kav sure did seem to have a ‘thing’ for teasing him often.

"I don't care. Do whatever you want." Shastri flicked her hand in dismissal.

"Well, want to see how far I can throw it? It did try to bite my friend; I think it's suitable." He grinned as he drew back and launched the snake, making movements as if he was throwing a ball with his hand. The three saw the snake fly a good distance, further than any of them could have thrown. They also did see it hit the sand with a small cloud surrounding it before it slithered away.

"Okay, you've had your fun and you've had your rest." Shastri said as she tried to lift Ahrikii off of the ground by pulling on his arm. Ahrikii rose slowly and with an exaggerated groan.

At that moment Ahrikii felt something wrap around his ankles and tug forward, snatching his feet out from underneath him. Luckily for him though, another thing caught him before he made contact with the floor. That was a good idea, especially considering the civilization in the caverns of underground. They would have been mad.

Ahrikii looked around worriedly and quickly and saw Kav above him, two of his four tendrils being used to carry Ahrikii.

"We're not going to get very far if you can't run." He explained as he brought the boy over his head to carry him behind him, securing his body by wrapping the tendrils around his chest and knees. Kav then stated running, catching up with Shastri, who had left the two behind a little while ago. Kav easily matched places with her,

"I thought you two love birds wanted some time alone." She scoffed. Kav let out a small chuckle and kept running. The two of them dashed along the sand, their shadows casting long stripes on the unusually flat sand. They were still a quite some ways away from the buildings they saw. Kav turned his head to peek at Ahrikii, whose body was quite stiff in Kav's tendrils.

"Kid, you can relax, you know." He commented, realizing how tense Ahrikii was. He jumped at the voice. "You don't need to be afraid. It's not like I'm going to..." His sentence trailed off towards the end of his sentence. He was trying to convince Ahrikii it not be scared,

but he was.

He was absolutely terrified.

He couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. It felt like some sort of fever inside of him. It was filling him up with heat and pain, and the sickening feel of paranoia. He felt it coursing through his bones, he could sense it in every aspect of his body. He was scared.

Quite frankly, letting a person eating monster hold him was not the best thing for his fear. His body was shivering, he closed his fingers into a fist, trying to relax himself without showing Kav. He was his friend after all. He wouldn't want his friend to know that he was afraid of him.

"Can I walk for myself?" Ahrikii asked, managing to not stutter. Kav nodded and placed Ahrikii on the floor gently. They were running the entire time they were talking. The group wasn't all that far away from their destination, so it would be understandable if Ahrikii wanted to walk from that point.

The soft sound of their feet in the sand turned louder and harder as the sand gradually transitioned to the stone that they used to pave paths in residential areas. They made it to the village at last, just as the sun dipped fully below the hills at the horizon.

"Alright. We're going to camp in one of these buildings." Shastri instructed.

"Are you sure that that's okay with the people living in them? I mean, we're strangers." Ahrikii asked, leaving out the fact of what Kav was.

Shastri was walking past some of the larger buildings, ignoring the inquiry. Eventually she got to a relatively small structure. It was still larger than where Ahrikii was living. She picked up her foot and kicked the door open, entering the building. It was then that Ahrikii noticed that all of the buildings, as well as the pathways, were painted an ugly, smoky black. He brushed it off and continued following.

"I'm sure they won't mind. Nobody's in this one." She finally answered Ahrikii's question. He was still curious how the people had not sprung out an attacked them yet. They were outsiders after all. One of them was a monster. "There are two beds, one bedroom. I call this one for myself." She pushed both of her hands down on to the smaller bed of the two, stating with her aggressive stance that what she said definitely was not a question.

Ahrikii sighed and lied down on the left side of the larger bed. He looked over at Kav, who was standing up, fiddling with his bandages as if waiting for an invitation.

"Aren't you coming to sleep?" Ahrikii said, rolling over and curling up, pulling his cloak over his shoulders.

"Hm? No, I only sleep every now and again, or if I'm injured." He shrugged, beginning to walk outside. "I'll just stick around at the door way. Keep out intruders." He stated before chuckling, "Hey, aren't we the intruders?" He tapped his chin. "No matter, I'll keep you guys safe, so get some rest." He shot a quick glance at Ahrikii, and with almost a dark tone, "I know you need it."

Kav saw Ahrikii jump a bit at the last comment before he left, walking over to the door way and sitting down, leaning against the brick wall. Ahrikii fell asleep almost instantly, being as tired as he was. Shastri, on the other hand, did not.

Time passed, the crescent moon slowly made its way across a cloudless sky that was filled with little lights, each one containing a different world. One, perhaps, observing these three people.

Kav was still awake, which was not surprising, considering that only two hours or so had passed. Kav had no trouble at all keeping his mind occupied during the time. Ahrikii was awake too. Only because he heard the rustling of fabric. Kav had gotten up slowly from his position, suspicious of the noise, while Ahrikii simply thought that Shastri was moving around in her sleep. He shut his eyes and dropped back into sleep.

The CDM took a careful and silent step into the bed room. Shastri was not in her bed. He flicked his eyes back and forth over the room, trying to spot her.

Nowhere.

She wasn't in the room.

The entire building only consisted of two rooms, the large room which is displayed in front of you when you enter and the bedroom to the right, separated by a wall with a rectangular hole cut into it. He was standing in the middle of the path through the separation wall.

_'She's not in the bedroom. The house has no windows. That means-'_ Kav's train of thought did not get very much further before it was derailed by four fingers clamped over his mouth, something restraining his tendrils and something cold on the back of his neck, all in a split second. Speed that was simply…

Inhuman.

Kav couldn't turn around without having his head cut off. He knew that. He tried his best to move his tendrils and maybe free them from the restraints, but to no avail. He let his shoulders drop as he relaxed and took a couple of deep breaths. He sighed out after a couple of seconds.

"What do you want?" He asked calmly. He heard a small scoff and a voice,

"Nothing much, just to kill a monster that's just getting in the way of things." It was Shastri. He was suspicious of her from when Ahrikii first mentioned taking a strange job request. Something with a large reward would have been picked up by somebody else if he got it at night. Jobs were always posted in the morning. Kav never went into the city but he could always assume, because it was always in the morning when large troupes of adventurers and bounty hunters left the village.

Now one of them had a knife pressed to his neck and he had no way to fight back. No tendrils, no claws, no fangs. He was completely helpless. If he moved at all he was dead.

_'There really is no way out this time, huh.'_

"I'm on your side. I thought you'd know that." He stated, trying to stall her. He didn't know what he was stalling for.

"Really, now? I know you like to double cross people. Kill them. And do what you and your kind do best, cover up the evidence." She had a snarl in her voice. Kav froze up when she said what she did. "Hm, so it's true. I'll be doing the world a favor if I kill you right here and now."

"I'm helping you. Ahrikii can't fight for him-" He realized. That was her plan. She wanted to capture Ahrikii. He wasn't sure why but he knew it had to do with the book that he 'found' recently.

"This town is completely empty. I'm sure you've realized it by now, right?" She began explaining. "I assume you know why. You were the reason it is, after all. You orchestrated it all. Snuck in, got all friendly with one of the residents, then led the rest of the monsters in." She growled out. "And that's why you're friends with Ahrikii isn't it? You plan on going after White Dunes next?"

"I promise, I don't know what you're talking about." He felt his restraints tighten.

"Liar. All you monsters are murderers. That's the end of the story. It's like quick sand. You can try to make it useful, but in the end, it's only good at trapping and killing innocent things that were just trying to get by."

"No, you don't know what you're talking about. I'm trying to tell you the truth here."

"No! I'm telling YOU the truth!" She shouted, but then covered her mouth once she realized how loud she was. Almost immediately another body was in the room.

"Shastri...? What are you doing?"

"Nothing, Ahrikii." She was caught. Cornered. Nowhere to run. Oh, the irony of all of it. "Just go back to bed, Ahrikii."

"No. What are you doing to Kav?" Ahrikii asked, rubbing his eyes.

"I...I'll say the truth. I was planning on killing him. He's just another monster, but it'll help everybody in the long run. Trust me." She tried to explain to him. Ahrikii was surprisingly calm. Maybe it was the drowsiness, or maybe he was just good at keeping his wits about him. No, it was definitely the former.

"No, let him go. He's a nice person. Maybe you should give him a chance." Ahrikii thought that division based on species had died a long time ago, but he knew that that was not the case.

Shastri had lost momentum. She didn't actually feel like killing Kav anymore. It was entirely an impulse desire. She lowered the blade and with just a few simple movements the length of rope that was holding Kav's tendrils fell in a pile on the floor.

"Fine. But I feel like I've proved myself strong, either of you try anything and I will not hesitate to kill you." She narrowed her eyes and walked over to her bed and laid down, facing the wall. "Try to attack me in my sleep and I WILL hear you." She reminded. "You know the punishment for that."

Kav slumped down on to the floor, his heart still racing from that little encounter with the third member of their party.

"Why was she so upset?" Ahrikii asked with a yawn as he sat down next to Kav. He could already feel himself falling back asleep.

He was also wondering why Kav didn't need as much sleep as they did. Maybe he was nocturnal. Maybe he was just made to be able to stay awake for a long time. If it was the latter, he must be very resourceful and efficient with his energy. Considering he eats people that is not very surprising. People must have lots of calories in them, especially considering their size.

"Kid, I know you're tired. You should get back to sleep." Kav was trying to change the topic, but he knew that Ahrikii would be persistent, but it was worth a shot.

"Tell me, if you're going to be one third of this group, I have to know." He was not making that much sense.

"Go to sleep, I promise I'll tell you another time, okay?" He suggested. Ahrikii nodded and walked off.  

Ahrikii would always say that Kav is his friend, but the only reason he was so cool when there was a knife pressed to Kav’s neck was because he thought it might be better if he WAS killed. He would always defend him, but deep down, to Ahrikii

He was just a monster.

That was all he was, and ever will be. He knew that. Both of them did.


	13. Strange Creatures

Ahrikii was plagued by many sleepless nights. Something always happened right as he was heading off to bed that would just leave him restless as he dealt with his mind, running through various scenarios and ideas. He groaned as he opened his, rubbing them. He barely got any rest, much less sleep. Slowly and drowsily, Ahrikii got up from his bed, throwing his cloak back behind him and running his hands through his hair a couple of times to try to get rid of his bed head and make himself look presentable. Ahrikii sluggishly trudged over to the main entry room, where Kav was still sitting by the door, his knees pulled up as he stared at his bare feet. His body was certainly there, but it seemed as though his mind wasn't, or, at least not fully.

"Good morning." Ahrikii greeted. Kav blinked and looked up at him. He gave a small grunt as he acknowledged the other's presence. "I think it's around time we change those bandages." He knelt down next to him and began untying the bandage that was wrapped around Kav's head. It fell down around his shoulders and Kav did nothing about it. He barely showed any reaction to the entire process or undoing, removing, replacing the long strips of cloth that he had on his body.

"Get ready, we're heading out soon." Shastri suddenly stepped into the room, her bag filled with dangerous things was slung over her shoulder and she was already prepared to leave. She pushed the door open and let the bright sunlight into the building, figuratively blinding her two house mates. Ahrikii nodded and got up to go get his bag. Kav sighed as he stood up and pushed two of his tendrils on his lower back and stretched, popping a couple of joints.

"Don't worry, we're not running today." Shastri stuck her head in the door way to tell this to Ahrikii, who called out to her to show that he definitely approved with the idea of not having to run anywhere. He was strong, but he just couldn't keep up. He soon left the room, finding Kav leaning against the wall next to the exit. Only when he saw Ahrikii, did Kav leave the building. Once everybody was outside Shastri pushed the door closed securely and began walking back into the desert, continuing the way that they were previously.

One of the monsters that was following them, Kav, remained completely silent for the first hour of their trip, not even making a noise as his feet carried him across the sandy wasteland. His hands were holding each other in front of his chest. Each hand grabbing his fingers rather forcefully as he stared on ahead, his vision unwavering, seemingly fixed on something at the horizon. He was only barely keeping his tendrils from dragging across the sand. Shastri decided to speak up before Ahrikii did.

"Hey." She called out. Kav immediately recognized the voice and looked as if he registered it as something he did not want, losing his balance and tumbling backwards. He had already raised his arms in front of his face in defense. He made eye contact with his 'attacker', realizing that she was looking down at him, but it didn't seem especially hostile. By that point, Ahrikii had already turned around and approached the two of them. He extended his hand to Kav, helping him stand back up.

"What was that about?" Ahrikii asked with false curiosity. He knew why Kav acted the way he did, but he suspected that maybe he would like to talk about it a little bit, but he simply shook his head.

"Nothing. I just thought I heard something else, is all." He explained with a light-hearted chuckle. Shastri cut in,

"What do you guys think of the king and queen in the Cradle?"

 

She asked their opinions. Kav and Ahrikii already had answers from the moment she said the wards 'king and queen'.

"I don't really like them." Ahrikii said. He didn't want to sound too prejudiced.

"I hate them, they're terrible people." Kav huffed, the first real thing he said all day.

"And why do you feel that way about them?" She asked. Neither of her companions could tell if she agreed with their opinions or not. Kav spoke first.

"Do you know they send hunting parties out to kill me and my friends? I don't think that's fair." He stated. "I've never killed anybody, why do they want me dead?" Neither of the two others really believed him, but they didn’t object. Ahrikii was next.

"I think they don't really help anybody. I've seen their ranks, they claim to give people who need housing, food, and money what they need, yet they don't. They say they don't have the money but I see them travelling the world and going to parties every night." He sighed out. "Along with that, they take everyone's weapons so we can't do anything about it."

The things that were happening in the Cradle really were quite dismal. So many people were homeless and hungry, yet the king and queen kept promising to help just to appease the public. They never did follow through with that pact, though. Using the people's money to host banquets and balls. Occasionally, they would execute ‘criminals’ publicly, without even giving them a fair trial. Their reign stretched out all across the desert, stopping only at the forest's borders.

"Very well." Shastri said after the two of them had given their two cents. She said nothing else, keeping quiet and to herself. She left Ahrikii and Kav wondering why she had asked such questions, and if she approved of their answers.

"We're going to another village." She said after several minutes of silence. "Once we're there we will pick up somebody else." Shastri was explaining their plan of action. Neither of the others wished to object, because in this scenario she was boss. She was also the only person in the group who knew their way around this part of the desert anyways. "The village we're going to is called Stonewall."

"Oh, I've heard of there." Ahrikii said. He then proceeded to tell Kav about how it was supposedly the safest town in the desert. It got its name from the large barricade of gray bricks that surrounded the whole village. It was over twelve feet in height and was pretty much guaranteed to keep any intruders out. At the north and south of the village there were large brown wooden doors which were the only ways in and out of Stone Wall.

"Thanks for informing him, Ahrikii." Shastri said. "Now, I'm going to warn you up front, the person we're picking up is a little... Strange."

"Stranger than this bunch? Really?" Kav commented with a small laugh. It seemed as though he was back to his usual self. "I seriously doubt that."

"You..." Shastri sighed. "You'll see what I mean when we get there." She dismissed him. "Just please don't make fun of him." She said calmly. "We're only about half an hour from Stone Wall now." She pointed off into the clear horizon, where the signature wall was easily visible.

"Oh. I didn't realize that was where we were going. I mean, I saw it but I didn't know we were headed there." Kav stated as he squinted his eyes and gazed at the object in the distance. After that the group remained mostly silent until Ahrikii decided to talk.

"So... Kav, do you have a last name?" He asked. Kav simply shook his head.

"What about you two? Ahrikii and Shastri..." Kav trailed off his sentence as if expecting them to fill in the blanks.

"Kasaatu." Ahrikii answered then turned his attention to Shastri.

"... Maharaj." She replied with some hesitation. The group through nothing of it. They continued with simple banter, none of them ever speaking of themselves or their pasts. All three wanted to avoid those topics, so no one asked each other why they were avoiding them.

In seemingly no time they were at the gate to Stonewall.

Shastri approached a small wood covered window next to the door. The wooden slab was removed from the window and somebody peeked out from behind it. In just a split second with no words exchanged the slab was slotted back over the opening. Ahrikii and Kav were having a quiet conversation about whether or not they did something wrong. Shastri turned around,

"Kav, I need you to stay outside the village. Wait right here for us." She said. Kav agreed, understanding why. Soon after the large and heavy door were opened up to them. Shastri and Ahrikii entered the village, leaving Kav alone outside.

Ahrikii was wondering what kind of person they were picking up. All he knew is that Shastri thought of him as strange. Maybe he was a strong rogue adventurer? Or possibly an inventor? Maybe he dealt with medicine like Marisha back at home?

"You never did tell me the name of the person we were going to." Ahrikii was hoping to get a little back ground information on him.

"I’ll tell you when we see him. He's not... Typical. But I have informed him that we will be travelling as a group of four." She explained. She led herself and Ahrikii to a building to the west-most part of the village. It was about four times the size of Ahrikii's home and had two floors, each with two windows in the front of the building. Shastri knocked on the door gently. "Hello? It’s Shastri. I'm here with one of the people travelling with us. The other is outside the village." Ahrikii had but a short time to wonder why Shastri was telling the person behind the door all of that information as the large wooden fixture creaked open slowly almost as soon as she had finished speaking.

A small figure walked out of the building. He was wearing a dark green cape which was similar to Ahrikii's except that it never covered his front meaning that it was indeed a cape, not a cloak. He wore an off white long sleeve shirt with red string keeping the v-collar closed. His pants were quite strange to be wearing in the desert, because they were artic camouflage. Black, white and gray splotches covered them as a pattern. These pants were tucked into heavy brown boots. To top off his eccentric look this man wore a mask. Very pale purple and a flat, yet  curved, surface that covered his entire face. No notable features besides the colour, the small, grinning, crescent eye holes which seemed to be covered from the behind with something white and two small circles on the top, looking like tiny mouse ears. His hair was somewhat like Kav's just a lot neater. Ahrikii was maybe about five inches taller than him.

The strange person didn't say a word of greeting to either of them, but nodded simply at Shastri before leading the way and walking down the streets back to the town's entrance. A heavy looking back pack hung from his shoulders as he walked with somewhat of a strange pattern, hopping over all of the little cracks in the path. He moved with a clumsy, uncertain style. His fingers were wrapped around the straps of his pack, gripping them tightly as the bag bounced around on his back with each small bound he made.

Ahrikii tilted his head confusedly and just when he was about to open his mouth to speak he caught sight of Shastri shaking her head with wide, angry eyes, as if to tell him to stay silent. He shut his lips and kept walking, but it wasn't long before he heard another voice. One quite abrupt. Not his nor Shastri's but the new person's.

"I know you want to call me weird," He stated simply, as if he wasn't worried about what Ahrikii thought of him, "you can just say it." He said all of that without facing them. Shastri cleared her throat,

"Do you want to introduce yourself to Ahrikii, maybe?" She implied that the new person should give Ahrikii a proper greeting as a courtesy.

"Not really." He blatantly shot her down. "I know who he is. That's what's important." He skipped over another miniscule fissure.

"You know, I really think you should." She was trying to get him to take a hint.

"I don't think so. He knows where we're going, right?" Shastri sighed, throwing her hands up slightly.

"Okay, Ahrikii, this is Hershel." She said, gesturing to the person in front of the two of them. She figured she might as well get Ahrikii to be acquainted with him.

"Call me Hershey." He said. Ahrikii thought that both 'Hershel' and 'Hershey' sounded like incredibly odd names. His name was normal, so was Shastri's. Kav only had his name because it was his issue number. After Hershey introduced himself the entire group went quiet. The area was not completely silent, though. The streets were filled with chattering and footsteps. Ahrikii would look around and see many people pointing fingers at Hershey and whispering things to each other.

"Certainly he notices this, right?" Ahrikii asked Shastri, moving his hands to make a small gesture to the crowds. Shastri pushed her index finger to her lips and shushed him. Ahrikii rolled his eyes, upset about how Shastri was shutting him up again. Once Shastri saw his expression she decided that it may keep Ahrikii quiet if she ordinarily answered his question.

"Hershey's just kind of a... Local celebrity of sorts. Just don't question it, okay?" She said with a glare that wordlessly told Ahrikii to not ask any more questions. He huffed and ignored her,

"Anyways, Hershey, why are you coming along with us?" Ahrikii asked.

"Am I... Not supposed to?" Hershey replied. His walk stuttered a bit, nearly tripping. He had taken the question the wrong way, but Ahrikii didn't know that.

"O-of course not, I'm just curious about what we are going to do and what part you are going to play in it." Ahrikii tried his best to explain what he meant.

"Oh. I am coming along to help you find gems in a mine. I thought Shastri would have told you this. I told her to tell you this." He looked back at her, "That was the plan, wasn't it, Shastri?" She shrugged,

"I forgot, okay?"

"Anyways," Ahrikii trailed off, "Hershey, what is your expertise in mining and gemstones? What do you know about them, is what I mean." Ahrikii almost heard Shastri mutter a quick 'oh no' before Hershey began to speak.

"I know lots of things about them. For example, did you know that amber is the softest gemstone while diamond is the hardest?" He started. "Also… The past people of this world had completely destroyed themselves over power and money. One of the ways they did that was by blowing up all of their mountains in a desperate search of gems and metals that they could sell. That's why you don't see a lot of mountains around here. I read about that in the books in my library.” He blathered on. He seemed a lot more expressive when he was talking about this.

Ahrikii had stopped listening a little while in to his speech. He hadn't heard when Hershey asked him what his favourite gemstone or mineral was. He only snapped back to reality when he heard Hershey click his tongue and call Ahrikii's name to get his attention. That was followed by a small voice,

"Oh. I bored you. Sorry." His voice jumped back to a calm level from the giddy attitude he carried when talking about jewels. "I won't do that again." He said in a quiet voice. He was silent for the rest of the walk through the town. Ahrikii and Shastri were both visibly uncomfortable with how unsettling the silence was, but Hershey didn't seem to be affected very much by it.

"So, Ahrikii," Shastri spoke up at last, "we're going to an old mine that we found a while ago. Once we're there we will hunt for gemstones. Simple as that. The mine is just a little but past Stone Wall, so when we meet up with Kav we'll start walking that way." She used elaborate hand gestures as she spoke. "Tell him the plan once we start moving." She added on.

Ahrikii was clearly confused as to why Shastri needed somebody's protection if they were just going into some old mine. Nothing had really attacked them up until the point where they entered the village, she would have been fine alone.

 _'Maybe she needs protection for Hershey...'_ Ahrikii thought to himself. If Shastri could have gotten somebody tougher to protect her in place of Ahrikii then that would obviously be too much unnecessary guarding. There was no need for her to have somebody strong protect her. _'Guess it is a good thing that she just happened to get me, then. I do wonder why nobody else took the offer before me if the reward is so high, though.'_ He was snapped out of his thought when he heard the loud creaking of the wooden door, signaling that they had reached the edge of the city.

Ahrikii looked up at the frame of the tall door as he walked through it, the gray stone looming above him, looking like it would fall any moment. Shastri and Hershey just looked forwards as the passes through, Hershey giving a small nod to the gate keeper, Shastri following suit. As soon as they left the border of Stone Wall their gaze met Kav's. The CDM was waiting eagerly for their return, curious about the new person. Hershey didn't appear surprised at all the Kav was, well, what he was.

"Hi there." Kav outreached his hand for a handshake. "I'm Kav. What's your name?" Hershey simply passed him by, walking in front of him as he led the group.

"Hershel, but call me Hershey." He murmured once he was in the lead. "If you are wondering why I am not afraid of you it is because I was told of both of you before I came out." He informed them. "You're Kav, yes? I've heard of you even before Shastri told me." Kav looked confused.

"Wha- how?" He asked. "Who told you about me? I'm just another CDM, you know. I think you might have me confused with somebody else." He made hand motions to emphasize his speech.

"No. I don't. I am certain of what I know. I know you are the only one by the name. I also know... Other things. Many other things." This was completely strange. Kav wondered if Hershey was some sort of mind reader or prophet of sorts.

"I'm telling you, I've never seen you before-"

"So, tell me Kav... Tell me honestly." Hershey said in a monotone yet stern voice, cutting him off as he turned slightly, giving him a side glance through his mask,  
"How do you feel about the things you've done?"


End file.
